How Latvia's only vinyl record plant was revived
Vinyl records were pressed in Latvia before the war, but production then stopped for several decades. Since August 2017 it has resumed at the "Semikols" workshop on Jūrkalnes Street.
A history with a long gap
Vinyl record production in Latvia has a history going back to before the war, when records were pressed in the country. Afterward, however, the industry fell silent for several decades, with no vinyl records being manufactured in Latvia at all.
Production resumes
That changed in August 2017, when vinyl record production restarted in the country. It was revived by the company "Semikols," whose workshop is located on Jūrkalnes Street in Riga. Since then, this has been the only company in Latvia engaged in pressing vinyl records.
To find out how the country's sole vinyl plant operates day to day, the LSM.lv news portal interviewed the founder of "Semikols." The interview covers the path from idea to an actual working plant, one that since the autumn of 2017 has kept alive a vinyl-pressing tradition that had once disappeared from Latvia.
The fact that the only such plant in the country is located specifically on Jūrkalnes Street and belongs to "Semikols" makes it a rare example of an industry being rebuilt in Latvia after a gap of several decades.
